Arrow Will Explain The Aftermath Of That Season 5 Cliffhanger In A Weird Way

As far as cliffhangers on The CW go, Arrow's Season 5 finale pretty much took the cake. Oliver Queen watched in horror as Lian Yu exploded in a ball of fire, leaving the fates of Team Arrow (and Deathstroke) in the balance. This cliffhanger ending naturally presented audiences with a wave of unanswered questions, and though Season 6 will offer a brief update on what happened, Arrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim recently revealed that an upcoming tie-in novel will fill in all of the essential information gaps between Season 5 and Season 6.

Despite the fact that Prometheus seems very dead -- point blank gunshots tend to have that effect on people -- it appears that Star City and Team Arrow will still feel his influence going into Season 6. Adrian Chase has a few tricks left up his sleeve, even from beyond the grave, and those obstacles will become the driving force of the upcoming novel, Arrow: Fatal Legacies, which is looking like it'll be released during an Arrow hiatus. The book was written by Marc Guggenheim and author James R. Tuck, and it will help flesh out the story between the past and to-be-current seasons of Arrow, as well as help establish the immediate aftermath of "Lian Yu."

In addition to Marc Guggenheim's initial post about the release of the upcoming tie-in book, the Arrow producer also responded to some critical fan questions about what we can expect in the story. Beyond filling in the gaps after the conclusion of "Lian Yu," the tie-in novel will also reportedly feature fan-favorite Arrow character Vigilante. Recent reports about Season 6 have already confirmed that the character's real identity will likely become more firmly established during the upcoming season arc (and that it will be someone we know), which means critical threads for the reveal will probably be planted in the pages of Fatal Legacies.

It's not necessarily out of the ordinary for the Arrow-verse to expand its overarching arc through non-televised content. We have seen comic books that similarly show the events that transpired between seasons of Arrow, and the Vixen animated series also helped established the Detroit-based badass without giving her an origin story on any of the main DC shows. That said, novelizations are still not the most common way for a TV show to flesh out its story, so we're excited to see how the Arrow novelization will impact Season 6's narrative.

Arrow will return to The CW on Thursday, October 12 at 9 p.m. ET. We will bring you more updates related to the Arrow-verse as they become available, and make sure to check out our summer TV premiere guide to keep yourself informed on all of this season's remaining debuts (such as Marvel's The Defenders) before the fall season rolls around. As for Arrow: Fatal Legacies, the Arrow tie-in novel will hit shelves in January 2018!